74. LIX. Of the golden nails of the inner Temple
I shall not concern myself with all the nails of the temple, as of those made of iron, &c. 1 Ch 2: 2. But only with the golden ones, of which you read, where he saith, 'And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold.' 2 Ch 4: 9. These nails, as I conceive, were all fastened to the place most holy, and of form most apt to that of which they were a figure.
1. Some of them represented Christ Jesus our Lord as fixed in his mediatory office in the heavens, wherefore in one place, when the Holy Ghost speaks of Christ, as he sprang from Judah to be a mediator, saith, 'Out of him came the corner,' the corner stone, 'out of him the nail.' 2. c. 4. Now, since he is compared to a nail, a golden nail, it is to show, that as a nail, by driving, is fixed in his place; so Christ, by God's oath, is made an everlasting priest. Ex 10: 24. Therefore, as he saith again, the nail, the Aaronical priesthood, that was fastened in a sure place, should be removed, be cut down, and fall; so he who has the key of David, which is Christ, Re. 10. 7. shall by God, as a nail, be fastened in a sure place, and abide; therefore he says again, 'And he shall be for a glorious throne,' or mercy-seat, 'to his Father's house.' And moreover, 'That they shall hang upon him,' as on a nail, 'all the glory of his Father's house, the offspring, and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.' Is. 10. 20-25. According to that which is written, 'And they sang a new song' to the Lamb that was slain, 'saying, 'Thou art worthy,' &c. Re. 2. 2-12.
And therefore it is again that Christ, under the similitude of a nail, is accounted by saints indeed their great pledge or hope, as he is in heaven, of their certain coming thither. Hence they said of old, God has given us 'a nail in his holy place;' a nail, says the line, 'a pin, a constant and sure abode,' says the margin. Ex. 11. 8. Now, this nail in his holy place, as was showed before, is Christ; Christ, as possessed of heaven, and as abiding, and ever living therein for us. Hence he is called, as there, our head, our life, and our salvation; and also we are said there to be set down together in him. Ep. i. Col. 10. 3. Ep. 3. 5.
2. Some of these nails were types of the holy words of God, which for ever are settled in heaven. Types, I say, of their 'yea and amen.' Hence Solomon, in another place, compares the words of the wise God, 'to goads and nails, fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.' Ex. 11. 11.
They are called goads, because, as such prick the oxen on in their drawing, so God's words prick Christians on in their holy duties. They are called nails, to show, that as nails, when fastened well in a sure place, are not easily removed; so God's words, by his will, stand firm for ever. The masters of the assemblies are first, the apostles. The one shepherd is Jesus Christ. Hence the gospel of Christ is said to be everlasting, to abide for ever, and to be more stedfast than heaven and earth. Is. 2. 6-8. 1 Pe. 1. 24. 25. He. 10. 26. Re. 10. 6. Mat. 10. 25. The Lord Jesus then, and his holy words, are the golden nails of the temple, and the fixing of these nails in the temple, was to show that Christ is the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever; and that his words abide, and remain the same for ever and ever. He then that hath Christ, has a nail in the holiest; he that hath a promise of salvation hath also a nail in heaven, a golden nail in heaven!
LX. Of the floor and walls of the inner Temple.
1. The floor of the oracle was overlaid with cedar, and so also were the walls of this house.
'He built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar. He even built for it within, for the oracle, for the most holy place.' 1 Kl. vi. 18.
2. In that he doth tell us with what it was ceiled, and doth also thus repeat, saying, 'for the oracle, for it within, even for the most holy place,' it is because he would have it noted, that this only is the place that thus was done.
3. Twenty cubits, that was the length, and breadth, and height of the house; so that by his thus saying he teacheth that thus it was built round about.
4. The cedar is, if I mistake not, the highest of the trees. Ex. 2. 3-8. Now in that it is said the house, the oracle, was ceiled round about therewith, it may be to show, that in heaven, and no where else, is the height of all perfections. Perfection is in the church on earth, but not such as is in heaven.
(1.) There is a natural perfection, and so a penny is as natural silver as is a shilling. (2.) There is a comparative perfection, and so one thing may be perfect and imperfect at the same time; as a half-crown is more than a shilling, yet less than a crown. (3.) There is also that which we call the utmost perfection, and that is it which cannot be added to, or taken from him; and so God only is perfect. Now, heavenly glory is that which goes beyond all perfection on the earth, as the cedar goes beyond all trees for height. Hence God, when he speaks of his own excellency, sets it forth by its height. The high God, the most High, and the high and lofty One; and the Highest. Ps. xvi. 9, crev. 6. Ge. xiv. 19-21. Do. 36. v. 18. Ps. xvi. 13, Iev. 5. Lu. 32; v. 35. Is. 10. 15. Ps. ix. 9; xii. 9; xvi. 1. Is. 10. 14. These terms also are ascribed to this house, for that it was the place where utmost perfection dwelt.
I take, therefore, the cedar in this place to be a note of perfection, even the cedar with which this house was ceiled. For since it is the wisdom of God to speak to us ofttimes by trees, gold, silver, stones, beasts, fowls, fishes, spiders, ants, frogs, flies, lice, dust, &c., and here by wood; how should we by them understand his voice, if we count there is no meaning in them? 'And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers; all was cedar; there was no stone seen.' 1 Kl. vi. 18.
Knops and flowers were they with which the golden candlestick was adorned, as you read, Ex. 23. 25; xxvii. 12. 21. The candlestick was a type of the church, and the knops and flowers a type of her ornaments. But what! must heaven be hanged round about with the ornaments of saints! with the fruits of their graces! Well, it is certain that something more than ordinary must be done with them, since they are admitted to follow them into the holy place, Re. xiv. 15; and since, it is said, they shall have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory bestowed on them, for them in the heavens.' 2 Co. iv. 16, 17.
'All was cedar; there was no stone seen.' Take stone in the type for that which was really so, and in the antitype for that which is so mystically, and then it may import to us, that in heaven, the antitype of this holiest, there shall never be anything of hardness of heart in them that possess it for ever. All imperfection ariseth from the badness of the heart, but there will be no bad hearts in glory. No shortness in knowledge, no crossness of disposition, no workings of lusts, or corruptions will be there; no, not throughout the whole heavens. Here, alas! they are seen, and that in the best of saints, because here our light is mixed with darkness; but there will be no night there, nor any stone seen.
'And the floor of the house was overlaid with gold.' 1 Kt. xi. 20. This is like that of which we read of the New Jerusalem that is to come from God out of heaven; says the text, 'The street of the city was pure gold;' and like that of which you read in Exodus, 'They saw the God of Israel, and under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.' Re. xii. 21. Ex. xxiv. 10. All the visions were rich, but this the richest, that the floor of the house should be covered or overlaid with gold. The floor and street are walking-places, and how rich will our steps be then! Alas! here we sometimes fall into the wire, and then again stumble upon blocks and stones. Here we sometimes fall into holes, and have our heel oft cateched in a snare; but there will be none of these. Gold! gold! all will be gold, and golden perfections, when we come into the holy place! Job at best took but his steps in butter, but we then shall take all our steps in the gold of the sanctuary.